msvc + windows sdk for linux (wine), as docker images

• docker image with the toolchain at /opt/msvc
• wrappers for PATH (cl, link, etc) inside the container
• optional buildtools layer (cmake/ninja/clang/python/uv/sccache)
• trimming support (scripts/trim-msvc.sh) to keep images small

build a trimmed buildtools image:

# trimmed base toolchain
docker build -f docker/msvc.docker -t msvc-wine:trim --build-arg MSVC_TRIM=yes .
# buildtools layer
docker build -f docker/msvc.buildtools.docker -t msvc-wine:buildtools-trim --build-arg BASE=msvc-wine:trim .

interactive shell (mount current dir at /work):

docker run --rm -it -v "$PWD:/work" -w /work msvc-wine:buildtools-trim /bin/bash

inside the container:

cl /?

simple pattern (ninja + release):

cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=Windows -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=cl -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=cl && cmake --build build

if you hit pdb/winbind issues in debug-like builds, either enable winbind (--build-arg WITH_WINBIND=yes) or prefer release builds.

dockerfiles accept the following args:

• MSVC_ARCHS (default: x64) — targets to include ("x86 x64 arm arm64")
• HOST_ARCH (default: x64) — host arch for tools
• ONLY_HOST (default: yes) — download only host-arch packages
• MSVC_VERSION, SDK_VERSION — pin toolset / sdk versions (optional)
• WITH_WINBIND (default: no) — install winbind in the runtime image
• DEBIAN_VERSION, DEBIAN_FLAVOR (defaults: trixie + slim)
• MSVC_TRIM (default: no) — enable trimming (recommended: yes)
• MSVC_TRIM_FLAGS (default: --only-sdk-version --trim-optional) — passed to scripts/trim-msvc.sh

example: keep multiple target archs:

docker build -f docker/msvc.docker -t msvc-wine:trim-multiarch --build-arg MSVC_TRIM=yes --build-arg MSVC_ARCHS="x86 x64 arm arm64" .

export:

docker save msvc-wine:buildtools-trim | zstd -10 -T0 -o msvc-wine_buildtools_trim.zst

import:

zstd -d -c msvc-wine_buildtools_trim.zst | docker load

sanity checks:

docker build -f docker/msvc.hello.docker -t msvc-wine:hello --build-arg BASE=msvc-wine:trim .
docker build -f docker/msvc.clang.docker -t msvc-wine:clang --build-arg BASE=msvc-wine:trim .

full test run:

docker build -f docker/msvc.test.docker -t msvc-wine:test --build-arg BASE=msvc-wine:trim .